Wood, Sanchez oppose funding for work on ‘missing link’ between Routes 78, 76

OCEANSIDE  Despite objections from Mayor Jim Wood and Councilwoman Esther Sanchez, the city appears poised to move forward on a controversial plan to complete a missing link of North Melrose Drive that would give motorists in that area a straight shot from state Route 78 to state Route 76.

The city’s proposed capital budget for the next fiscal year includes $2.2 million to begin design work on the project. City Manager Peter Weiss will present the proposed budget to the City Council today.

“We’re prepared to move forward,” Weiss said. “We expect to start design work in the next few months.”

The spending plan also includes $2.9 million to begin work on reconfiguring a portion of Mission Avenue downtown, narrowing it from four lanes to two and making it one way westbound from Horne Street to Coast Highway.

Funding for Melrose Drive was included because the council majority of Jerry Kern, Jack Feller and Gary Felien have repeatedly voted for the project.

Wood said spending any money on the design of Melrose Drive was “pouring it down an empty hole” because he and Sanchez were determined to stop the road from ever being built.

“With Esther and I there, it will never happen,” Wood said. “If you can’t do it when the (design) is done, why spend money on it?”

The city will have to acquire some private property to build the road, along with a chunk of Guajome Regional Park. If the city has to use eminent domain to take any of the private property, Wood said four of the five council members must agree to it and that neither he nor Sanchez would.

Councilman Jerry Kern, a strong advocate of the roadway, said he’s confident that the road will go through.

“We’re moving forward,” Kern said. “I know there are people that are opposed, but long term, it’s the infrastructure that supports our (ability to) commute.”

The 3,000-foot-long project would connect two segments of Melrose Drive from Spur Avenue to North Santa Fe Avenue to create a new link between Route 78 and Route 76.

Under a tentative schedule set by city engineers, the design of the roadway would be done by the end of this year and the city would start acquiring property in mid-2014, said Gary Kellison, Oceanside’s engineering section manager for capital improvements. The city won’t know how much property must be acquired or what the road will cost until the design work is done, Kellison said.

“At that point, we would have all of the property boundaries identified,” Kellison said.

Traffic planners said the road is needed to relieve traffic congestion along College Boulevard and North Santa Fe Avenue.

However, some residents of the Jeffries Ranch neighborhood near Melrose Drive say it will clog their neighborhood with unwanted traffic. The Planning Commission in January 2011 voted unanimously to reject an environmental report on the project.

“It’s a shame that the council is still not listening to the people,” said Dana Corso, a Jeffries Ranch homeowner who ran unsuccessfully for City Council in November.

“To put this road through, it’s a shame. I think they’re wasting our money,” said Corso, who also heads Alliance of Citizens To Improve Oceanside Neighborhoods, an umbrella organization of several community groups.

“We don’t need it, it’s wasteful spending, and it’s going to ruin the neighborhood,” Corso said. “When you take the time to explain to people what it’s all about, they’re opposed to it.”